We come to a book by M. Vasilyev, K. Stanyukovich titled Matter and Man.

The book talks about the various aspects of matter and how man (humans!) has come to control them and use them. The book thematically explores solids, liquids, gases, plasma, radiation, fields, gas dynamics and some aspects of cosmology and how can be they used in order to serve mankind.

Man is calculatingly inquisitive. As soon as he discovers a new law of nature he tries to exploit it for his own ends. Having discovered the secret of lightning bolts he uses it to produce electric light. Having learned the laws of river flow he digs irrigation canals and impounds artificial lakes which affect the very climate of whole regions. He has harnessed the power of nuclear fission of uranium and will soon learn to tame the thermonuclear reactions which heat the sun itself. When he discovers the laws of the universe he will surely put thern to work and make them serve him, He will reconstruct planetary systems,
move stars about and regulate their brightness. Man will indeed become the master of the universe, and it will serve him just as terrestrial laws and phenomena are serving
him today.

Though today some of the things said seem to be naive, they were not when they had been said. For example the progress in space exploration, which observers in 1950-60s has predicted did not come through. Many of the things said in this book seem to be too optimistic, considering the current scenario. In the entire book the dominant ideology seems to be to exploit the natural resources for benefit of mankind. This is something which the Science Studies people detest, but at the time when the book was written they were not there. The book truly represents the zeitgeist of that era.

Since the original cover was not available to me in hi-res, I have designed a new cover. If you have access to the original cover pictured above please do post (min. 600 dpi or more).

The book was translated from the Russian by V. Talmy and was first published by Peace Publishers (and earlier name for Mir, logo is the same) sometime in 1960s.